Next year, I'll be teaching elementary art (on a cart) (they need the art room for a class), so I'll be traveling to each classroom. I've never taught art and did not major in art education, but I am pretty artistic. Any thoughts, advice, etc? Where do I even begin?
It's not my area, but from subbing in it, one step I'd do would be to start researching and collecting literature to support the curriculum to the youngest grades. For example, I Ain't Gonna Paint No More.
I'm assuming you have elem art endorsement. We did many art on a cart lessons in college. We got to practice teaching in schools with no art ed. Everything was 2-D although a 3-D air-dry clay lesson would have been possible. Pencils, crayons, markers, glue sticks, scissors, rulers, and paper are easy to transport. Watercolors gets tricky. Not every class has a sink or bathroom so I had to use a 5 gal bucket as a sink and bring a couple milk jugs of water. Many classrooms are carpet and a spill redirects you immediately. On a cart, I would get familiar with a class before introducing watercolors. I never did tempera on a cart. Another consideration is where to store art in their classroom. Some projects need to dry.
Long-term sub. Not only are theya short on STEM teachers, but they're also short on music, art, & PE teachers. Actually they're short on teachers in general there was an article in the local paper about it. THANKS!!
Hmmm... interesting. Getting out materials and cleaning up are important routines that I teach at the beginning of the school year, (and that we continue to practice throughout the school year). I guess what comes to mind for me is how to distribute materials. Maybe divide the class up into groups of 4 and prepare a materials bin for each project? Teach students the routine of getting out their group's bin, distributing/sharing the materials from that bin, cleaning up, and re-storing the bin on the cart? Each bin could even have an "anchor" sheet that might help guide them through the project and provide support while they are waiting for one on one help. The other thing I would be curious to know is what is the sink situation? Sure you can do plenty with pencils and markers and glue sticks, but eventually your students are going to want to paint. Painting does not always have to be messy. I do a dot-painting project with acrylic paint based off of aboriginal art. I LOVE this project because it seems to satisfy students at ALL skill levels. I've taught it to very young children, and also use it each year with my HS students. I would be happy to email you the ppt if you are interested. I guess, if it were me, I would start by trying to answer to big questions: 1) What are the projects? (and what content am I teaching with each) 2) How will I (and my students) manage the materials? 3) How will I collect the artwork? 4) How/ when will I return the projects? My philosophy/style is that I prepare for the class, but then I teach the students to care for the supplies. They take responsibility for getting materials, caring for them, and storing their work. I would imagine that this would be doubly important when teaching from a cart. Hope this was helpful! I look forward to hearing how it goes. I have other projects I could share, but the forum does not allow me to post my website. However, you can find it on my profile info
